Method of operating oil-wells



(No Model.)

M. LYTLE.

METHODOF OPERATING OIL WELLS.

Patented July 2, 1889..

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N. PETERS Phola-Llimgnpher. Wnshmgnn. DV CV I UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MURDICK LYTLE, OF DUKE CENTRE, PENNSYLVANIA.

METHOD OF OPERATING OIL-WELLS.

SPECIFICATION forming part ofl Letters Patent No. 406,362, dated July 2, 1889.

Application filed January 9, 1888.

Serial No. 260,144. (N o model.)

T0 all whom t may concern:

Beitknown that I, MURDICK LYTLE, acitizen of the United States, residing at Duke Centre, in the county of McKean and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in the Method of Operating Oil-VVells; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to a novel method of operating oil-wells which yield a small amount of oil, and which if operated in the ordinary manner and equipped as usual would not prove profitable.

My method consists in giving` the piston or pistons of the pumping apparatus a very slow downward movement and a very quick and powerful upward movement, as will be hereinafter described.

.Myinvention'will be found quite important for use at feebly-l'lowing wells, inasmuch as without the same these wells if left idle, in a short time will become cloggedl with parafine, sand, and the like, by the backing up of the undisturbed flow of oil, and thus they will gradually become inoperative and valueless. In order to prevent the entire loss of the investment in such wells it is desirable to continue pumping in such manner that the flow of oil, although feeble, shall be kept up by maintaining a certain height of the same in the pockets or bottom portions of the wells. This can only be effected by a very slow pumping process regulated according to the ascertained iiow of a well; but as such slow pumping with an ordinary plant-viz., a steamboiler, steam-engine, or other motor, and attendants to each pump-would be expensive when the yield amounts to, say, from only one to four barrels of oil per day, it is necessary to adopt a method such as l have invented for doing the work, which, while it will be cheaper than other known methods, will avoid a slow upstroke of the pump-piston and its attendant disadvantages, especially when there is a slight leakage in the piston, or insure a quick and powerful upstroke and a very slow downstroke, thereby allowing time for the proper quantities of oil to accumulate in the pockets or bottom portions of the wells before the respective strokes of the piston take place.

Before describing my invention l will state that in applying it I prefer to select a central location between a cluster of .poor wells for the plant of a motor-say, a steam-boilerfrom which steam is supplied to the several well-pumps around it, and each well-pump adapted to be operated in accordance with my method and moved by the steam-supply, so as to produce a numberof strokes per hour .or day in accordance with the yield of the well, such strokes being delivered at regular intervals and comprising a very quick upward movement and a very slow downward movement. By this means each oil-well can be pumped continually at a very slight eX- pense, and the oil therein consequently kept at a proper pumping height, thus insuring a paying yield and a prolongation of the life of the well.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure l is a view of my invention, partly in elevation andpartly in section. Fig. 2 is a modified construction of the same, and Fig. 3 is another modilied construction of the same.

The letter Ain the drawings, Fig. l, represent-s adeep-well pump; B, a balancing walking-beam; O, a steam-cylinder; D, a steamvalve; and E, a valve-operating mechanism.

The pump A is an ordinary deep-well oilpump, the piston-rod a of which is connected by means of a pin a to the short arm b of the walking-beam B. The long arm b of the said walking-beam is made quite bulky and heavy, and is provided with a weight b2, in order to overbalance the weight of the piston-rod, piston, and column of oil resting upon the latter. The walking-beam B is supported by means of a fulcrum-stand b4 and fulcrumb3, and the weight b2 at its lowest elevation rests upon a suitable abutment-cushion b5. At a suitable distance from the fulcrum b3 the piston-rod c of the steam-cylinder C is pivoted by means of a pin c to the walking-beam B. The piston o2 is forced up by steam or other fluid und er pressure,which is supplied through a pipe CZ, leading from a reservoir centrally located in a cluster of wells. The valve D, by means of which the operating uid is ad- IOO mitted to and exhausted from the cylinder, consists of an ordinary four-way cock (Z,co1n 1n unicating with a supply-pipe CZ, exhaustpipe (Z2, pipe d3, leading to the cylinder C, and safety-valve (Z4. An arm Z5 is attached to the cock cZ, which, by means of a pin CZ, is connected to a rod e of the valve-operating mechanism E. The rod e is provided with a slot c', in which the pin (ZG is confined, and whereby only an end portion of either the forward or back stroke of the rod e is transferred to the pin CZ The rod e is pivoted by means of a pin e2 to the lower arm e2 of a lever e4, suitably hung at e5 to the stands c", the upper e7 of which lever is provided with a weight es. The arm e2 is provided with a heel e", which, by coming in contact alternately with two end abutments el@ c, limits the oscillations of the lever el. A crank-arm @12 is formed with the lever e4, the pin end cl3 of which arm is confined in a slot t7 in a connecting-rod bs. The connecting-rod bs is, by means of a pin b, connected to the walking-beam B, and thus the end portions only of the strokes of the rod bs are utilized for moving the lever e4.

When the arm Z5 stands as represented by full lines in the drawings, the steam or other motor iiuid enters the cylinder C, and moves the piston c2 up until it occupies a position shown by dotted lines, whereby the weighted part of the walking-beam B is also elevated, as shown by dot-ted lines. By this movement the piston-rod is moved down to its lowest elevation, as lndicated by dotted lines. The rod bs, rising with weighted part b', pulls up the crank-arm cl2, and moves the lever e4 suf* liciently beyond its upright position as to enable the weight es to throw it into its other extreme position, as the dotted lines show, in which position it is held by the abutment en. By the said movement of the lever e4 the arm (Z5 is suddenly turned to its reversed position, and the four-way cock CZ allows the steam to blow out of the cylinder C through pipe (Z2 into the atmosphere. By means of the slots b2 and e the motion of the lever e4 begins, while the upward motion of the weighted lever-arm b is nearing its termination, and the motion of the lever c4 is accelerated toward its termination independently of the motion of the walking-beam B, and while at its highest speed said lever e4 reverses the position of the four-way cock d', and thus the piston c2 is always raised to its proper elevation. The steam in the pipe CZ, after being cut off from the cylinder C, is caused to communicate with the safety-valve (Z4, which breaks the force of the inertia and prevents the pipe from being bursted.

As soon as the steam is allowed to blowout from the cylinder C, the arm Z2 by means of its weight (exceeding the weight of the piston-rod and the oil supported by the pumppiston) will descend with a quick motion, thereby raising the piston-rod and the oil in the pump. As soon as the descending weight b2 touches the abutment-cushion b5, the downward motion of the walking-beam B ceases, the weight of the arm Zi alone not being sufiicient to raise the piston-rod and piston. At the last stage of its descent t-he connectingrod bs reverses the position of the lever c", as described, and thus causes the four-way cock CZ to be reversed, -whereupon the steam is again admitted to the cylinder C and the above-described operation is repeated. The arm b may be made sufficiently heavy to effeet the upstroke of the piston without the weight b2, and in that case an abutting-column will be provided by which the descent of the arm h is limited.

Instead of 'conducting the steam or other motor fluid from a boiler or reservoir to the different pumps, the steam or motor fluid may be employed near the boiler for driving an engine, and this engine may be made to operate the Well-pumps around it by means of reciprocating wires, each pump being provided with a suitable lifting mechanism connected to said wires, as will now be described.

In the drawings, Fig. 2, a means is shown for lifting the weight by a crank-arm on a shaft, and in Fig. 3 a means for lifting the weight by a chain-and-pulley rack and pinion.

rlhe walking'beam B in Fig. 2 has an arm b heavy enough to overbalance and raise the piston-rod a of the pump A by means of the arm b. The arm b is connected by means of a connecting-rod c3, pin c', and Wrist-pin j" to a crank f on a shaft F, which latter is suitably hung in a pedestal f2, and carries a disk G and a loose-itting gear-wheel H. The disk is at two opposite points provided with ratchet'teeth into which a spring-pawl g of the wheel l-I gears. rlhe wheel Il gears into a pinion h on a shaft F, suitably hungto the pedestal h, and to said shaft a wheel ll is attached, which gears into a pinion h2 on a shaft F2, suitably hung to the pedestal l1 of the walking-beam B. This shaft F2 is provided With a wheel H2, made fast to it, and two loosely-iitting lever-arlns I I', having spring-pawls i." Z2, and being suspended on cords Z2 Z4, which run over a guide-pulley 1"", and are connected with one of the above-inentioned reciprocating wires if. provided with a weight t', by which the pawl '12 is enabled to operate the wheel H2 while thc said arm descends, and the arm I with the pawl i2, operates the wheel H2 while being pulled up by the wire Z6. By this construction the wheel H2 is propelled at each movement of the wire i, and this motion of the wheel H2 is communicated in the manner shown to the wheel 1I on the shaft F. The pawl g of said wheel-revolves and glides over the plain surfaces of the disk Gr untilit comes in contact with the ratchet-teeth g thereon, when it communicates its motion to the disk, and thus causes the crank f to be slowly elevated from its lowest to its highest clevation, together with the weighted arm b'. This movement causes the piston-rod a to slowly IOO IOS

IIO

descend in the pump A. As the disk G is thus moved up and over the point of dead-leverage of the crank, the weight of the arm h causes the same to move ahead of the pawl g with a quick speed till the crank f arrives vat its lowest elevation, thus finishing the upstroke of the pump with the proper speed and an invariable elevation. The arrangement of the ratchet-teeth g is such that allowance is made for different points near that of the lower dead-leverage, at which the crank f may occasionally stop in its descent, and thus, after each downstroke of the crank, the pawl will, without perceptible loss of time, enga-ge with one or the other of the said ratchet-teeth and immediately begin to move up the crank again in the manner aforesaid. It is easily seen that by employing more or less of intermediate gear-wheels the time for raising the weighted arm b may be lengthened or shortened, according to the judgment of the attendant of a well-district under his supervision.

Y The described pawl and wheel mechanism may be employed to revolve a shaft g2, Fig. 3, with a geared pinion G', having ablank portion g3 on its toothed periphery, anda toothed rack J, having guides jj, suitably fastened to a pedestal b4, which latter supports a grooved pulley bw, chain h, and weight b2. The chain b is fastened to the upper end of the rack J, and the rack is fastened to the upper end of the piston-rod di. The pinion G While slowly revolving moves the rack .I and piston-rod a down until its teeth have all passed'through the rack-teeth and the blank portion g3 has arrived in front of the rack, when the rack and piston-rod are lifted by the liberated weight b2, and the upstroke of the pump is effected. Said upstroke may be regulated by means of a spring d2 interposed between the pump and rack with the good effect of giving more energy to the beginning portion of the upstroke of the piston-rod, and thus insuring the quick and positive closing of its valve.

In shallow wells the weight of the pistonrod and oil-column is considerably reduced, and the operation of the pump lrequires very little power, so that the spring' d2 alone, Without the aid of adrop-weight, may be employed to eifect a quick upstroke for the purpose of pumping on the principle above described.

The above-described pawl-and-wheel mechanism, Figs. 2 and 3, may be modiiied to suit the' convenience of power transmission,- as it would in certain in stances be more advantageous to use a belt h4 or chain and pulley Il3 instead of reciprocating Wires and pawls;Y

and in wells with a very changeable iiow of oil it may be advisable to use both methods of transmitting power from a centrally-located motor to such pumps in order to adjust the number of pump-strokes per hour or day to the changing issue of the wells withoutinjurious loss of time. In such case the shaft F3, to which the pulley H3 and a pinion h3 are fastened, is supported by an ordinary movcan be moved toward it until the .pinion h3,

gears into the wheel H2, whereby the quicker motion of the pump is established.

It is easily seen that with my invention a number of oil-pumps can be operated from a p centrally -located motor with a quick upstroke and a suitable number of strokes per hour or per day, and that the number of such strokes in each pump can be changed to more or less without disturbing the operation of the other pumps and without undue loss of time. By using my invention the entire yield of the wells is secured, the capital invested in the boring and equipping of the wells does not become a dead loss, the pumps used for elevating the oil while boring need not be exchanged for smaller' pumps, and one man can attend to all the pumps while another man attends to the central motor. The ordinary pumps used for testing wells under the operation of boring have a diameter of two inches, and if a pump of oneinch diameter, which would be equal to the small yield, would, with the ordinary means of operation, be capable of elevating such yield it would have to make four strokes while the said oidinary two-inch pump makes but one, and consequently the packing of the small pump Would have to be renewed four times instead of once as with the large pump. This renewal of packing necessitates eXtra labor and time, and is a very expensive operation, and sometimes interferes with the steady flow of the oil-well; hence it will be seen that the use of a two-inch pump is the most advantageous.

I'Vith my invention an invariable quick up- IOO downstroke is slow and variable, and this is accomplished without substituting a different pump for the one used in the boring operation, which pump is, as above stated, of, say, two-inch diameter.

It will be apparent from the foregoing description that the slow downward movement of the piston is against the resistance of the weighted lever or spring, and thus while the speed of the piston' is rendered very slow a power for raising the piston and its load of oil is accumulated. Thus atwofold purpose is accomplished-viz., time allowed for the oil to How into the bottom of the Well between the respective strokes of the piston, and a IIO power is stored for the powerful and quick elevation of the piston.

Vhat I claim as my invention is- The within-described method of operating slowly-flowing oil-wells equipped with lifting-pumps, as described, consisting, first, in automatically lowering the pump-piston very slowly relative to its upward movement, thereby allowing time for a full supply of oil to flow into the well by the time the piston has completed its downstroke; second, in such movement accumulating a powerful force for raising the piston, and, third, automatically withdrawing the lowering force and allowing the said accumulated raising force to automatically come into action and suddeniy, powerfully, and automatically raise the piston and the oil carried by the same, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my sign atu re in presence of two witnesses.

MURDICK LYTLE.

lVitnesses:

H. BARBER, THos. H. WALKER. 

